Sailor:

William W. MacFeeley
Service Dates=July 1970 July 1972

I transferred to the USS Providence CLG 6 from US Naval Station Guam in the middle of the summer. The ship was stationed at the time in San Diego, Calif. and when I reported to morning quarters on the fantail I had to wear a jacket, southern California was not as warm as a tropical island. As a DC3 I served as ship's carpenter and in DC central for general quarters. We made a few memorable trips up to Portland, OR for the Rose festival and cruise (with a typhoon) to Hawaii for a week of R&R. The last six months or so of my time on board saw us steaming to the gun line off the coast of Viet Nam, seemed we tried to break the Pacific crossing time to get there and fire a round to get combat pay for the month. While there we had a Marine Officer recieve a minor wound and the Purple Heart, while sitting on top of the gun director watching the action. We also had a Navy helocopter crash on our flight deck, killing the only Navy Admiral, (as well as a couple of Captains as I recall),lost in that war. Today as a re-enactor portraying a Marine on the USS Constitution in Boston, Ma. I had the opportunity to sail on the Brig Providence, a recreation of John Paul Jones' ship in the Revolutionary War, as part of the gun crew, I participate in a mock battle with the HMS Rose. I now say that I have fought on the deck of two USS Providences. Too bad they turned it into a Boat.